Meows, Magic & Murder (24 page)

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Authors: Madison Johns

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“You?” Petunia said. “I’m not the one holding the gun on you here.”

“It’s all my fault. If only I hadn’t cheated on Petunia with Olivia, none of this would have happened,” Henry said.

“Put that gun down, Olivia,” the sheriff said again. “It doesn’t have to end this way.”

Petunia looked helplessly from the sheriff to Olivia until she finally relinquished the gun to the sheriff, and was handcuffed with a slap of metal. He then called for an ambulance.

Petunia turned back to Henry, who was bleeding quite badly, and she grabbed a towel from a nearby laundry basket near the washer, pressing it against his wound.

Noah knelt next to Petunia. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Thankfully, you and the sheriff got here when you did. Olivia wanted me to kill Henry and she was then p-planing to … kill me. She wanted to make it look like I came here to murder them.”

“She’d have never gotten away with it. There’s no such thing as the perfect murder,” Noah said.

“I’m serious about what I said, Petunia. I still love you,” Henry said.

Noah frowned and Petunia sighed. “Oh, Henry. You made your choice and you need to live with it. I’ve moved on.”

The sound of sirens could be heard now, flashers visible through the basement windows. Deputies came down the stairs with guns drawn, including Natalie Cartwright, until they saw Olivia handcuffed, her arm held by the sheriff.

Next down the stairs were the paramedics, toting a flexible stretcher. They loaded Henry onto it and the cops assisted them to lug it back up the stairs, while Olivia was led up the stairs by Natalie.

Petunia told the sheriff about how Olivia had murdered Helen, Kaye, and Charlene and why. “I suspect Olivia took those letters to Kaye and Charlene that lured them out to the Lake Forest beach where they were murdered.”

“I’ll be doing a follow-up questioning to tie up the loose ends. I hope you don’t hold it against me for considering you a suspect.”

“Not at all. I’d question you, if you didn’t. I really looked guilty and if it wasn’t me, I’d have thought I was guilty, too. I feel so bad that Olivia murdered three people just to frame me for murder.”

“Olivia and Henry were having problems, from what I heard,” the sheriff said. “She must have thought that would change if you were charged with murder.”

“So you knew about that?”

“Small town, need I say more.”

“Olivia’s delusional. There’s no way I’d ever take back up with Henry after what he’s done. I’ve forgiven him, but will never be able to forget about him cheating on me with Olivia. If he truly planned to leave her, it would have nothing to do with me. He told me before you arrived that he found a receipt and remaining knitting needles. And Olivia doesn’t even knit. I guess he put it together that she was the killer since he knew they couldn’t be hers, but was unable to leave before she was on to him.”

“So questioning witnesses didn’t help you put this case together?”

“Actually, there were some revelations, like how Helen tried to get money out of my aunt, but that’s no reason to want her dead. I feel very responsible, if only indirectly.”

“It’s not your fault, Petunia, even though I understand how you might feel,” Noah said. “How long do we need to stay, sheriff?”

“You can both leave now. You’ve told me enough for my report.”

“It seems like Helen snowed people in town. The mayor and Florence McHenry were the ones who told me Helen claimed to be related, but I think that they actually believed her from the sounds of it.”

“Thanks, Petunia. I’m glad
we
resolved this case before anyone else was murdered.”

Petunia smiled at the sheriff at the mention of
we
. It certainly was a group effort as the sheriff and Noah arrived before Olivia killed her.

Noah led Petunia up the stairs and Natalie offered them a ride home. Petunia was so happy, since this had been quite the day. They rode in the back of the squad car and Petunia was just so happy that she hadn’t been arrested. If she had, there was no telling if the case would ever be solved and she’d have been tried for murder then.

Petunia glanced over at Noah, who smiled slightly. His eyes were softer than she remembered. She had so much to say to him, but now was not the time.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Petunia had a pot on the stove with a cocktail of herbs and roots. She nearly gagged on the pungent aroma.

“What on earth is that smell?”
Pansy asked.

“
It’s the potion I’m making to try and turn you back.”

Pansy shook his head.
“No way am I ingesting that. Just to play it safe, maybe I can just stay a cat for the time being—until you have time to perfect the formula, I mean.”

Petunia relaxed.
“Good, I was afraid what might happen.”

Aunt Maxine’s orange tabby, Princess, strutted into the room, her nose twitching. Pansy then followed Princess into the other room. Aunt Maxine’s idea to have Pansy meet Princess was spot on. They seemed to get along fine and as her aunt had once said, were most likely plotting their demise.

Petunia wasn’t making a potion to turn Pansy back, anyway. She was too afraid she’d make a bigger mess of things. She was working on another batch of the salve that she’d given to Lucy, who’d won the Lake Forest Marathon. Besides herbs and roots, the salve had five different oils, beeswax, and menthol for extra deep penetration. She lowered the amount of the ginger root this time around to hopefully tone down the results. Lucy was still quite free of pain and as lively as ever, but this batch Petunia wanted to be sure to give the mayor’s wife and her aunt for their knee pain. She planned to give out these samples on a trial basis to see if the salve worked this time around. If it worked like she hoped, her aunt planned to sell it in her shop.

As Petunia mixed the ingredients together, she said the same words she had the last time that sounded nothing like a spell.

“I hope this works this time.” Petunia blinked and her body felt all tingly from head to toe.
That’s odd,
she thought, filling the metal tins and put them on the windowsill to cool. Cora was in her backyard, gawking like always. When people in town found out how Petunia helped to solve the case, they backed down from trying to oust her from the neighborhood—not that they could, anyway.

Noah walked into the kitchen and frowned. “And here I thought you might be cooking something good for dinner.”

“It’s more of the salve I gave Lucy. I’m hoping this one isn’t quite as strong.”

“Oh, so you’re finally admitting to something?”

No, she didn’t have to admit to anything like being a witch, changing Jeremy into her cat, Pansy, or that her aunt was also a witch. Some things were better left unsaid between her and Noah.

“I have nothing to admit to. I’m working on a healing salve, nothing more.”

“I had hoped to ask you out to dinner tonight. If you’re not too busy.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’m the one who owes you. I can’t thank you enough for helping me out with the knitting needle case.”

“We actually make a pretty good team, but tonight’s invite was for an actual date.” When Petunia frowned, he quickly added. “You can say no, if you’d rather not.”

“Sorry. Sure, dinner sounds great.”

“It’s about time,” Aunt Maxine said as she joined them. “I was wondering if you two would ever get your heads out of the clouds and actually go on a date.”

Petunia wondered that, too, but chose not to comment.

“Oh, the sheriff told me that the trail of Jeremy Walters’ disappearance has led out of Lake Forest after a reliable source has said that they spotted him in a Kalamazoo bar.”

Petunia sighed as her aunt shrugged. Luckily, Noah was looking the other way at the time. It was quite apparent that she was behind the sighting of Jeremy, but she couldn’t say that she was unhappy about the revelation—even though she knew it was quite false. “That’s a relief. What else is new?”

“I heard Florence McHenry resigned from the city council,” Aunt Maxine said. “I saw her working at Starbucks, just yesterday.”

“Good to know. I’ll certainly stay away from there if she’s working at Starbucks since I’m certainly not on her nice list.”

Lucy strutted into the room, looking at the metal tins lined up on the window sill. “More salve?”

“Yes, which you need none of.”

“I know I don’t, thanks to you. I guess I could have used a little less. It’s exhausting to be constantly feeling the need to get up and move all the time.”

Petunia laughed as they all did. For appearances sake, Lucy put them all to shame. She wasn’t sure how this witch thing would work out in the long run, but for now, Petunia wasn’t ready to come out as a witch anytime soon.

About the Author

When Madison Johns began writing at the age of forty-four, she never imagined she'd make it onto the
USA Today
best-selling books list with her first cozy mystery,
Armed and Outrageous
, as an independent author. Sure, this book is an Amazon bestseller, but
USA Today
?

Although sleep-deprived from working third shift, she knew if she put what she had learned while caring for senior citizens to good use, it would result in something quite unique. The Agnes Barton Senior Sleuths mystery series has forever changed Madison's life, with each of the books making it onto the Amazon bestseller's list for cozy mystery and humor.

Madison is now able to do what she loves best and work from home as a full-time writer. She has two children and animals galore that keep her company while she churns out more cozy mysteries and paranormal romances.

If you’d like to receive new release alerts and updates, please sign up for my newsletter,
http://eepurl.com/4kFsH
.

Other Books By Madison Johns

An Agnes Barton Senior Sleuth Mystery Series

Armed and Outrageous

Grannies, Guns & Ghosts

Agnes Barton Paranormal Mystery

Haunted Hijinks

Ghostly Hijinks